


against the odds

by trixstar



Series: Neji Week 2020 [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/M, Gen, Minor Hyuuga Neji/Tenten, Monopoly (Board Game), Neji Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25015120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trixstar/pseuds/trixstar
Summary: When Lee rolls double-sixes for the eighth time, Tenten flips the board.The only good thing that comes from this is that Neji is finally free from jail.Written for Neji Week Day 4 Prompt: Freedom
Relationships: Hyuuga Neji & Rock Lee & Tenten, Hyuuga Neji/Tenten
Series: Neji Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1806631
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	against the odds

**Author's Note:**

> OK SO fate and freedom are ANGSTY choices and i didnt want to write angst anymore after my piece for day 1 (check it out if you havent!) bc das sad so enjoy modern au where they are happy and carefree instead :D

"Ok, this is bullshit, you _have_ to be cheating," Tenten accuses, eyes narrowed. The wine in her glass sloshes as she sways. 

Lee gasps in hurt. Honest-to-God _hurt_. "Tenten, I would never! You know me!" 

"Yeah, but I know Monopoly too and this is _impossible._ Now go to jail. _What the fuck_." The last part is said in wonder rather than anger.

"Fine, but I will disprove your allegations later."

Neji rolls his eyes at the theatrics. Lee whimpers before moving his Scottie dog to the jail part of the board. He snorts when Tenten leans over to push it into the _In Jail_ portion with Neji's top hat rather than the _Just Visiting_ part of the square Lee had gingerly placed it in.

"That was unnecessary."

"No, that was _justice_. My turn."

Lee miserably hands over the pair of dice. Tenten places her glass on the table before snatching them in one fell swoop and throwing them violently at the middle of the board. Neji and Lee look at her, unimpressed.

"What? More power, better luck. You never know." 

Lee actually considers her words. Neji scoffs as he walks up to locate the cubes. He thinks he'd seen them bounce under his bookshelf. Which is great. It's not like his bookshelf weighed _tons_ or anything.

"I don't like it when we play this while you're drunk." He hears Lee tell Tenten.

"Too bad." He thinks Tenten sticks her tongue out at him. Neji has no evidence, but the gesture would be very on brand for her.

"Neji, why did you give her alcohol?"

"You were winning," he manages to grunt out as he reaches underneath the bookshelf. His fingers make contact with nothing.

"No, she was just losing."

"I'm right here!" Tenten exclaims.

Neji ignores this. "You know that's the same thing."

"This is my second time in jail." Lee pouts. "How am I winning?" He sounds genuinely confused.

"You've monopolized more than half the board!" Tenten glares at him.

"And I've been in jail nearly the entire time," Neji pipes up, still on the floor.

Lee crosses his arms. "I'd rather be able to explore than keep wasting away in jail! No offense, Neji!"

"None taken."

"And I'd rather make money than keep losing!" Tenten's words are starting to slur. 

"Then play better, Tenten! I told you both I wouldn't hold back!"

Neji finally manages to the grab both dice from the dusty confines known as The Space Between His Bookshelf And The Floor. He walks back to the table and proceeds to wipe the things clean, tuning out Lee and Tenten's bickering.

When he is done, Tenten presses against him and _Jesus_ , he had told her to wear a bra. Lee is _right there_. 

"What did they land on?"

"I didn't get to see." He tries to maintain a controlled tone.

Tenten pouts. "Let me roll again then." 

"Only if your promise to roll them properly."

She scowls. "No."

"Then it's my turn."

She makes several attempts to grab the dice from him, but the fact that she's drunk and he's _Neji_ ultimately leads her to fail.

He rolls them unceremoniously to the sound of Tenten's irritated huffing.

A five and a six. In other words, _not_ doubles.

"Ah, that was so close, Neji! It looks like you'll be staying in there for another turn." Lee gives him an apologetic look, as if it were his fault.

Neji shrugs. He'd never really cared about winning in the first place. They'd only played Monopoly to appease Tenten and he's her boyfriend (the word is still so foreign to him), he's _supposed_ to do that.

"It's just one more turn anyway."

"Yeah, and only another one before you end up back there again."

Neji gives Tenten a blank look. Although said under her breath, he gets the impression he was meant to hear that.

He hands the dice over to Lee's waiting palms. There's fire burning in his eyes as he gears up to roll the things and, as always, Neji wishes he'd just get on with it.

When the dice fly across the air, he buries his face in his hands.

Tenten rises from her seat, affronted. "Hypocrite! You judged me for throwing them too hard, but look at you!" 

To Neji's endless agony, Lee gets up as well. "It was an accident! I was merely too excited!" 

"Bullshit!"

"I swear on Guy-sensei's good name!"

"That barely means anything, you cheater!"

"Tenten, how could you say that!"

Having resigned himself to being the dice boy, Neji gets up _again_ to look for the plastic cubes. It shouldn't be hard. It's not like the damned things had _sailed_ across the expanse of his living room.

God, he hopes they aren't under the bookshelf again.  
  
"Check the kitchen," Tenten pipes up at him mid-argument after seeing him mill around unsuccessfully. Such a wonderful girlfriend, she is.

Neji doesn't find them in the kitchen though, even after looking through the dirty dishes piled in the sink. (He preferred drying so no work could be done if Tenten didn't feel like washing.)

"They're not here," he calls out before returning to the living room.

He's not even surprised Lee and Tenten are in their fighting stances, his couches and table pushed aside in favor for... whatever this is going to be. 

"No one is fighting in my living room."

"There's no more dice. This is the only way we can settle this." Tenten doesn't even look at him, already invested.

"And I will never back down from a challenge," Lee says because he's _Lee_. He's cracking his knuckles and Neji doesn't like the sound of it at all.

He sighs. 

"You know I have extra dice, right?"  
  
"Too late-"

"Wait, what?"

To his relief, Lee's stance relaxes. "We can continue the game then!"

"Yes. Tenten has always known I had extra dice," Neji says pointedly.

Tenten pouts, looks away from him. 

"Maybe I wanted to fight him instead of playing." 

"You're only saying that because you're losing," Lee and Neji say simultaneously. Tenten huffs, irate before plopping back down on the couch.

"I hate both of you."

Lee pats her head before returning to his own seat. "We all know you do not mean that, lotus flower."

Tenten makes a sound of disgust as Neji grabs the extra dice from their spot on the shelf. He takes his seat back next to her and he's only mildly fazed when Tenten crawls over to settle on his lap.

"Yes?"

"I want to sit here."

"Ok." There's really nothing else he can say to that.

Lee doesn't mind the display. Tenten being clingy is to be expected when she is drunk. Just like how him being violent is the norm. 

"Neji, may I roll again?"

He hands Lee the dice. Tenten glares up at him.

"So Lee gets to roll again, but I don't?"

"Lee didn't throw the dice on purpose."

"Maybe that's what he _wants_ us to think," she stage-whispers.

Lee frowns. "We are having a serious talk about how you view my sportsmanship when you are sober, Tenten." 

"Whatever."

Neji feels her relax against him and proceeds to wrap his arms around her waist. It's starting to come naturally to him, he thinks as he breathes in her scent, holding her like this.

Lee stares at the dice determinedly, eyes blazing more intensely than before. Neji wants to tell him that's probably just going to make the dice go flying again, but he holds his tongue.

They finally escape his hands.

Double-sixes. 

For the eighth time during the duration of their 20 minute game.

Tenten flips the board.

As money and property cards rain from the sky, Neji thinks about how he isn't in jail anymore, at least.

**Author's Note:**

> hope y'all found that fun uwu
> 
> [my twitter!](https://twitter.com/trixstarsss)


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